Canada Under Pressure: Navigating the Hybrid Threat Landscape

Canada is facing an evolving risk landscape — one where cyber threats, physical security, disinformation, geopolitics, and human behavior increasingly converge.

In this episode of Wired for Change, host Amy Yee sits down with Lina Dabit, former Unit Commander of the RCMP Cybercrime Investigative Team, former Field Unit Commander with the Canadian Air Carrier Protective Program, and a leading voice on national resilience and hybrid threats.

This conversation explores how hybrid threat landscapes are reshaping security in Canada — especially as the country prepares for large-scale global events like FIFA 2026 — and why traditional, siloed approaches no longer work.

🔍 Topics covered include:

What hybrid threats really are (cyber, physical, information, and human threats combined)

Why misinformation and disinformation are so effective at eroding trust

Lessons from global events like the Paris Olympics

The role of instinct, culture, and psychological safety in security and leadership

Public-private collaboration and unified command models

Why resilience depends on people — not just technology

What Canadian leaders need to understand about risk, trust, and readiness

This episode doesn’t offer a checklist or a playbook. Instead, it provides clarity, context, and leadership insight for navigating the pressures Canada faces today — and what resilience truly requires going forward.

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00:00 Welcome to Wired for Change
Introducing Lina Dabit and the evolving hybrid threat landscape facing Canada

02:10 Lina Dabit’s career: from frontline policing to cyber leadership
How operational experience shaped a systems-level view of security and trust

05:40 Instinct, intuition, and sensing when something isn’t right
Why human judgment still matters in cyber, safety, and leadership

09:00 Psychological safety and why people only speak up once
How culture determines whether risk signals get raised—or buried

12:30 Investigative interviewing: finding truth, not forcing outcomes
Rapport, ethics, and avoiding false assumptions

17:20 Inclusion, mentorship, and the Women’s Plus Network
Belonging, sponsorship, and creating access to opportunity

22:00 What are hybrid threats?
Cyber, physical, human, and information threats converging in real time

24:50 Disinformation in action: lessons from Paris
How false narratives erode trust—even when real incidents are happening

29:30 FIFA 2026 and large-scale event pressure
Why global events amplify hybrid risk for host countries

34:20 Cascading risk: power, transport, food, and trust
How small disruptions can trigger big downstream impacts

39:10 Unified command and breaking down silos
Who’s in charge, how teams coordinate, and why rehearsals must be joint

44:00 Culture as a security control
Why you can’t “checkbox” trust, collaboration, or resilience

48:40 Collaboration done right: a cybercrime case study
Public–private partnerships that drove real outcomes

53:30 Leading teams for collaboration and innovation
Permission, trust, and how leaders unlock better ideas

58:30 Community resilience and shared responsibility
How citizens and cross-sector networks can strengthen national readiness

1:02:50 What Canadian leaders need to hear now
Listening to the ground truth—not just filtered reassurance

1:06:10 Final reflections on trust, resilience, and the road ahead
Why resilience is a shared mission for Canada